Solomon: A slimmer Slaton should show improvement

CommentaryA weight-and-see approach on Slaton

Published 6:30 am, Friday, December 11, 2009

Steve Slaton’s high this year was 76 rushing yards in a loss. He bettered that total eight times as a rookie.

Steve Slaton’s high this year was 76 rushing yards in a loss. He bettered that total eight times as a rookie.

Photo: James Nielsen, Chronicle

Solomon: A slimmer Slaton should show improvement

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A couple of hours before the Texans-Jaguars game in Jacksonville on Sunday, Steve Slaton was on the field running around, presumably to see if he would be able to play that day.

He wasn't running full speed. He wasn't doing anything too strenuous. But he appeared to be gassed.

He was huffing and puffing as if he had just toted his fifth straight carry in a fourth-quarter drive. And as has been the case for all of 2009, he looked a little thick.

Maybe it was just my imagination.

A doctor has shut down Slaton for the season because of a non-career-threatening nerve problem in his neck that led to numbness in the tip of his right thumb. But missing the final five games probably won't be the worst thing about this season for Slaton.

It's those mostly forgettable 11 games he didn't miss, those games in which he looked a little thick and rich, like slow-moving ketchup in a commercial.

Oh, he's much quicker than Heinz, just not quite as quick as the Slaton we watched a year ago. Unless it is our imagination.

Prediction for two words in a 2010 headline: “Slimmer Slaton.”

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Too many bad plays

One problem when a player doesn't play well is that people look to analyze (and criticize) his every move. We want to ignore those plays on which Slaton sprinted past helpless defenders, and we can easily forget those times he ran with authority, hitting holes that weren't there until he arrived. There just weren't enough of those to satisfy us.

We focus on the numerous times he appeared to choose the worst route of attack. We lock in on the times he took a step in the wrong direction and it seemed to cost the Texans a big gain.

Slaton had so many bad plays this season that we've almost forgotten he ran behind backup guards for most of the season. But Slaton can't blame his sad sophomore campaign on missing Chester Pitts and Mike Brisiel.

And we can't blame it on his weight gain … can we?

As far back as last spring, teammates were joking that Slaton looked chunky. It was not supposed to be a big deal.

Slaton said he had gained a few pounds — perhaps as many as 10 — but it wouldn't be a negative factor in his season. In fact, it was expected to be just the opposite. The Texans asked him to put on a few so that he could better handle the pounding of being a lead back in the NFL.

Slaton, drafted to be a third-down, change-of-pace back, was pretty worn down by the end of his first season. And by the end of training camp this past August, players were wondering if a heavier Slaton had lost half a step.

Perhaps this season Slaton found that, for him, thicker and richer don't go together.

Looks are often deceiving. It is impossible to determine by the naked, untrained eye that Slaton's first few steps moved him a shorter distance than they used to.

The numbers say there was a problem.

Not the same runner

In 2008, Slaton led the AFC in yards from scrim-mage and set a Texans record with 1,282 rushing yards.

This season, 40 NFL players have rushed for more yards per game than Slaton (39.7), who for now is 38th in the league in total rushing yards.

Clearly, Slaton's struggles — he produced a little less than half as many rushing yards a game as he did last season — affected the way Gary Kubiak and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan called games this season. Kubiak never hid the fact that he thought Slaton's development was key to the Texans' season.

Slaton is last among running backs in yards per carry at 3.3 yards per attempt. If you give a guy the ball three times and, per his average, officials must measure to see if he made a first down, you don't give him the ball three times in a row very often.

Texans players and coaches like to look back at losses and say the team was a play away. Imagine where it would be with just half of the quality plays Slaton provided for the offense a year ago. And that's not even going into his Sammie Smith-ish fumbling issues.

Slaton's errors this season were not as costly as his lack of production. Production the team was counting on.

Ridiculous is the assumption that players automatically get better with experience, but how could the Texans have expected this type of drop-off?

Slaton's season high this year was 76 rushing yards in a loss to Jacksonville at Reliant Stadium in September. He bettered that total eight times as a rookie.

The Texans, who are having their worst rushing year since their inaugural season, have only three 20-yard runs this season. Last season, Slaton had five runs of at least 40 yards to go with 13 other rushes of at least 20 yards.

Clearly, the Texans this season didn't have the Steve Slaton they had in 2008.